Iran, Russia Keen to Increase Trade Balance

 (FNA)- A senior Russian industrial official underlined that Tehran and Moscow have decided to increase the value of their trade transactions in the near future.

"Increasing exchange of goods between Astrakhan and Iran's Mazandaran province is on the agenda of the Russian delegation visiting Iran," Minister for Industries, Transport and Natural Resources of Russia's Astrakhan region Sergey Krzhanovsky told FNA on Wednesday.

The Russian official said he is pleased with Mazandaran province's infrastructure, and said one of the moves on the agenda of his region for boosting the two sides' trade transactions and economic cooperation is "a study of the existing potentials and exchange of experience by traders and investors of Astrakhan's private sector".

On Tuesday, another Astrakhan official announced that the value of trade balance between Iran and Astrakhan province increased in 2013.

"The value of Iran-Astrakhan trade balance hit $360 million in 2013," Astrakhan Governor General Alexander Gilkin told reporters in the city of Amol in Northern Iran today.

He noted that the Northern Iranian provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran have had the highest volume of trade transactions with Russia.

"Mazandaran province exported agricultural products such as citrus fruits, kiwi, dairy products and other products to Astrakhan," Gilkin noted.

Astrakhan is a major city in Southwestern Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of 23 meters below sea level.

In December 2010, Iran's Northern province of Mazandaran and Astrakhan signed a protocol to boost mutual cooperation.

The protocol paved the way for bolstering mutual cooperation in the fields of industry, trade, agriculture, health and medicine, education and sciences, and tourism.

As regards trade cooperation, the two sides agreed to carry out joint efforts to establish Iran's Trade House in Astrakhan.

On educational cooperation, the two sides’ state-run universities were tasked with exchange of experiences in nanotechnology fields.

The protocol came during a trip to Iran's Northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran by a large delegation from Astrakhan.